Thanks to John for his kind gift!!
A great addition to my fig collection.  Now I can focus on growing all these fig varieties and hopefully reap some fig harvests:)
Here I am leaving John's place with a truckload of fig trees(big smile:)
Each tree was nicely labeled.  Over the next few days I will inventory and plan how best to grow them.

 

It is amazing to be on the receiving end of a kind gesture like this.  It inspires one to want to pass it on.

Over

I managed to give away around 30 fig trees yesterday ( and another 15 in the previous few days) and got to know a couple of local fig nuts a little better .
Both Joe ( Pino ) and Luzzo ( Ralph ) and his lovely wife got to try a Niagara Black fig off the mother tree . 
They both tried an Italiano fig too , which is another great variety for our climate . The previous night we 
had frost but the figs were still fine . This has been the worst year for figs here so if the figs were good this year then 
they are keepers for sure .
I also shared my first unk Dalmatian fig with Joe . Wow another great variety . It was actually a green fig with the deepest 
red colour I've seen in a fig and great flavour . I got this variety from Nelson20vt and he has posted about it previously . No cracking
or splitting , a great fig for here so far . It may be related to Dalmatie or the same .
I encourage Joe and Ralph to give their honest opinions on these varieties so that others can consider them for cold climates .

A link to Nelson's fig blog and the Dalmatia fig here ;
http://nelsonsfigs.blogspot.ca/2014_09_01_archive.html


John

John, I would like to thank you for your generosity and your warm welcome to your lovely home.  I also appreciated the knowledge you shared with me as well as explaining that while varieties are great, if they do not produce fruit in our climate, it doesn't make sense to have these type of trees. 

Both of the figs that I tried at your home are very nice tasting figs and they ripen nicely in our climate even though this summer has been the worst summer in a very long time.  I would definitely recommend these trees to Ontario fig enthusiasts.  You gave me an Italiano tree but I will definitely try to acquire a Niagara Black of my own.

Thanks very much!

Luzzu

Luzzu I will have some cuttings come fall, PM me.

Hey Ralph ,

Watch out for James ( Chivas ) he can be trouble .
Once I made the mistake of giving him a few cuttings , in return I received 4 huge super healthy plants of excellent very rare varieties .
He refused to even be reimbursed for shipping costs .
Rest assured that this guy deals in only the best of the best , and is not a collector but a real fig aficionado .
He is also an expert on fertilization . He made a Niagara black go from cuttings to fruiting the same season which takes me atleast 2 years .

John

I gave away pretty much all the trees I had extra of so far, so unfortunately that cannot be the case for now, although cuttings are not an issue.

John, as suggested in post #25, would you be able to post the list of varieties you decided to keep so far?
For us in zones 5 and 6 it gives great guidance!

Damir

Hey James ,

Your Pastellier is on its way thanks to Ralph ( Luzzu ) .
I Have reduced from 110 to 47 trees now , with a few multiples of Desert King and Niagara Black  and Italiano.
Unfortunately I didn't have the nerve to get to the 20 or 30 number I was hoping for but next year I will .
I  was able to pot up and root prune most of my trees today , which is amazing and puts me ahead of schedule .
I met a bunch of great people in the process and helped out a couple old friends .
Hopefully everyone enjoys their new trees , lots of cuttings should be available when pruning starts in the next couple weeks .
I will post a list of the varieties I decided to keep soon.

John

I appreciate your generosity John, also Ralph's, next year I just have to find space to plant it in ground, I'm sure I can find a space, maybe winter will make 1 for me.

I am hoping as well to have weeded out more varieties as well John, but this year things didn't ripen so I cannot say for sure which I want to keep and which I would like to give away.

Hi John, Just wondering as to which top 10 varieties you're keeping.